Seraphina Lotkhamnga on May 3rd, 2011

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Augmenting acoustic pop music with a beat machine isn’t revolutionary these days with the likes of artists such as Ellie Goulding propelling the “folk-tronica” genre. However, L.A. band yOya still writes playful songs of chipper guitar riffs boosted by complex rhythms that tug their whimsical lyrics in memorably pleasant directions. Falsetto harmonies from Alex Pfender and Noah Dietterich, who have been friends since their days in Corvallis, Oreg., before studying music together at USC, highlight the solid balance between their folk-rock roots from the past and urban influences from the metropolis they live in now. Their latest album “Nothing to Die” is a collection of intricately textured songs that sometimes recall past material from the Dodos yet also maintain accessible melody for even the biggest Coldplay fan.

||| Download: “Lovers On” in exchange for your e-mail address at their website.

||| Live: yOya plays Thursday at Dinner House M and May 16 at the Echoplex.

||| Also: After the jump, stream “Nothing to Die” in its entirety.